Scent of sleep
by sheelaflower
Summary: Lucy's always wondered why Natsu loves sleeping in her bed so much ...


**Here's my very first Fairy Tail fanfiction. It is a kind of NaLu and it's really fluffy, although it's not anything romantic or anything. It's just an (un)fortunate, totally cute little scene with our favorite Fairy Tail characters.**

**I do NOT own Fairy Tail nor any of it's characters. All rights belong to … I think his name was Hiro Mashima, right?**

**The scent of sleep**

It was always great to get home after a long day. For Lucy, it was even greater, because she was usually gone for weeks or even month. After days of sleeping on floors, hotels or wherever else, embracing the familiar scent of your home after you completed a mission was just the best. The blonde breathed in and looked around. Yap, coming home was really great. But she would have enough time to enjoy it tomorrow. The only thing she wanted to do today was to go to sleep.

The very first thing she saw when she entered her bedroom was the salmon haired boy sitting at her bed, back leaning against it. The blue cat that was always by his side was sitting next to him, a fish in his mouth. Wait a second; that was the fish she wanted to use to make breakfast tomorrow. And the boy was calmly drinking her juice, as if it was the most natural thing of the world.

"Hey Lucy", the boy said.

Usually, Lucy would have freaked out upon seeing the uninvited guest in her house, but it happened so often, that she wasn't even surprised anymore to see him here. Besides, she was tired. So she just raised an eyebrow and started at the duo annoyed. At their questioning looks, she sighed, walked towards the boy and grabbed the juice out of his hands.

"HEY!" he protested, but Lucy was merciless today.

"Get outta my house, Natsu!" she said, sounding almost bored. "And you too, Happy!"

"What's up with Lucy today?" Happy asked his lifelong friend.

"We don't wanna go home, right Happy?" Natsu grinned at his cat.

"Aye!" the cat answered.

"Aye my ass!" Lucy growled, now seeming dangerously ticked. "I want you out of my house NOW!"

Natsu and Happy both looked at the celestial mage as if not being able to comprehend what she had just said. Then, both of them blinked simultaneously and tilted their heads. Not in any mood to deal with them, Lucy gazed at the ceiling in exasperation and sent a prayer before shifting her attention back at the duo.

"Listen up", she said sternly, "I'm going to take a bath now. I want you gone as soon as I'm finished or you'll regret it." And with that, the blonde was gone.

"Lucy's acting weird today", Happy said and Natsu nodded in agreement.

"Oh well, nothing we can do about it. She always bathes for hours, so we still have some time before she gets out. Let's relax a bit."

And with that, Natsu hopped on his friend's bed and relaxed. For some reason, that not even he himself knew, relaxing was really easy on Lucy's bed. Maybe it was because it was so nice and soft. And it wasn't just the bed; everything in her apartment screamed of Lucy. There was the scent, all the books that she owned, the color of her floor and walls, the tidiness and even every single piece of decoration was proof enough that she was living here. But the bed was the best thing about the entire apartment. It smelled so much like Lucy that Natsu's became all dazed. In a matter of minutes, he was fast asleep, being quieter and more relaxed than anywhere else.

And so he stayed until Lucy came out of the bath. She hadn't really expected Natsu to be gone. After all, he could out power her anytime if he really got serious. Her plan was to call Erza and tell her that Natsu had been peeking when she was bathing or something, that way Titania would personally make sure that Natsu would not step another foot into Lucy's apartment for the next few month. What she hadn't expected was to see him fast asleep on her bed. But when she thought about it, it wasn't that surprising. And seeing him sleeping safe and soundly, the celestial mage didn't really have the heart to kick him out either. That meant that she would spend another night on her couch.

"Why does he like sleeping here so much anyways?" she mumbled to herself. "He probably spends more nights here than he does in his own house."

"Don't you know?" Happy suddenly spoke up.

Lucy shrieked and spun around. She had totally forgotten about the blue cat. He was sitting on her table, nagging on the bones of the fish that he stole from her. Oh, how she hated that little pest sometimes.

"Why should I know?" Lucy asked tired. "It's not like I can read his mind."

"I don't think that would help. Natsu doesn't even know himself and he's not really interested in finding out. All he knows is that he likes it here."

"Oh, and you know why, huh?"

Happy nodded eagerly.

"If you say something about fish, I'm kicking you out", Lucy said flatly.

"How cruel. Fish isn't the only thing I think about." Happy cried.

The blonde only snorted at that obvious lie, which made Happy mad. A vein popped on his forehead and he turned around, nose high in the air.

"Fine," he pouted. "Then I won't tell you anything!"

"Alright, I'm sorry. I'll buy you an extra big fish, so tell me. Please!"

Happy opened one eye. "Will you buy another one? A really tasty one that I can give to Carla?" he asked.

Lucy sighed, but nodded anyways. Now smiling again, Happy turned back to Lucy.

"I don't know if you ever noticed it, but you and Lisanna have the same effect on Natsu."

"Effect?" Lucy asked, tilting her head in confusion.

"Aye! If Natsu is around either of you and pays attention to you, he becomes very calm. The reason he is like that around Lisanna is because she's very levelheaded and calm and that's rubbing off on Natsu a little bit. You on the other hand, are neither calm nor levelheaded."

"No need to tell me that!" Lucy screeched.

"See? Just as I said; neither calm nor levelheaded. But even though, you have the same effect on him as Lisanna does. When he's around you, he becomes a bit quieter and laid back."

"But if I'm neither calm nor levelheaded like Lisanna, then why does he become this way?"

"Because of your scent."

That was the last thing that Lucy had suspected. She stared at the cat in front of her with big, brown eyes, unable to comprehend what he had just said. Her scent? What did he mean by that? Why was Natsu becoming calm because of her scent? What did one thing have to do with the other?

"You see", Happy went on, "because Natsu is a dragon slayer, scents have a much bigger effect on him then on other people. It's so strong, that a person scent influences how much he likes them. It's almost as if he can smell a person's character. Your scent has a very calming effect on Natsu, more even than Lisanna's calm presence. Of course, all of that is forgotten when he pays attention to something else, but if he pays attention to it, then his body and mind become completely relaxed. And the stronger your scent is, the more relaxed he becomes. That's why he loves your apartment so much; it's filled with your scent and that makes him comfortable."

"So the reason he loves to sleep in my bed is because it smells like me?" Lucy asked flabbergasted.

"Aye! Of course, your bed is special. The only thing that smells more like you are you and your clothes. Your scent is so strong that it doesn't only relax him, it completely swamps him. In your bed, he sleeps like a stone. He doesn't even snore anymore."

"I think I'm starting to understand. Natsu can smell if he likes a person or not and the way he likes a person depends on the way a person smells. That would mean that Gray's scent ticks him off and Erza's scent scares the living daylights out of him." Lucy stated.

"Kind of. The scent does play a big role, but it's not the only thing that makes Natsu like a person or not", Happy argued.

"Obviously. But when it comes to sleeping in my bed, then it's mostly because it smells like me, right?"

"Aye! Natsu likes your scent very much."

"How do you know all that anyways? You're a cat!"

"I've been with Natsu all my life."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, knowing that this couldn't be the entire story. But Happy was looking up at her with eyes that told her that she would not ever get anything out of him, even if she tortured him to death. So she just sighed and walked to the fridge, took out another fish and gave it to Happy as a thanks. Then, she sat down at her bed, next to Natsu and gazed at his sleeping face. Happy was right; he looked completely relaxed. If he slept anywhere else, he would snore, turn from one side to another or talk in his sleep. At that moment, he was just laying there, not doing a single sound, not moving a single muscle. You could have thought he was dead if not for his quiet, steady breathing.

"To think that I have that kind of effect on him …" the blonde mumbled.

"It is quite shocking that you of all people can calm him down like that." Happy snickered.

"SHUT UP YOU STUPID CAT!" Lucy bellowed.

That made Natsu turn and Lucy held her mouth immediately. But when he relaxed again and his breathing got even again, she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. When she saw Natsu's face (now looking upwards), she couldn't help but to giggle a bit. He was really cute when he was asleep like that. Almost automatically, she brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes and let her hand wander down the side of his face.

"Fine, you can sleep here today", she whispered with a soft smile on his face.

For a second there, she swore that she saw his nose twitch before a wide smile made its way onto his face, which made the celestial mage chuckle a bit. She didn't even realize how close she had leaned into him until he suddenly wrapped his arms around her neck and turned, pulling her with him in the process.

Now, she was lying against his chest, which made her blush a deep shade of red. Happy snickered again somewhere in the background and Lucy swore to herself that she would make a hat out of his fur if she ever got out of this. Problem was; she couldn't. Natsu was holding her tight and it didn't look like he wanted to let her go anytime soon.

The blonde let out a deep sigh of exasperation and decided to try to relax as well. And as she started doing so, she also realized that things about Natsu that she had never even paid attention too. His body heat was higher than that of a normal person as was his breath, his skin was smooth (probably smoothened by all the flames that burned away dead skin) and his steady heartbeat was mesmerizing. But most of all; his scent was soothing.

At some point, Lucy found that she was in a complete daze. Natsu's strong arms, his calming heartbeat and his scent sent her into a trance. She couldn't even think straight anymore, so she just stopped trying and allowed her mind to be taken over by complete bliss. In the end, she fell asleep even faster than Natsu.

"They lllllike each other", Happy purred.

He looked at the two and decided to paint a picture. He only had to find stuff to draw with. But the more often he saw his two best friends sleeping so peacefully next to each other, the less he wanted to tease them. At some point, he stopped searching for Lucy's untensils. Instead, he pulled the blanket out from beneath the two and put it over them. Then, he turned out all the lights and curled up above Lucy's head, next to Natsu's forehead. He smiled at the two one last time before he closed his eyes and fell asleep as well.

**There, all done. Be so kind and tell me what you think, please? If you do, I will write more Fairy Tail couples. And don't ask me where I got the idea, because I really don't know. Thank you all for reading *bows***


End file.
